


Sorry I'm Late

by BlametheCosmos



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Teacher AU, fitz is a substitute physics teacher, might feature some other characters idk, simmons is the head of science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-09-07 04:31:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 13,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8783185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlametheCosmos/pseuds/BlametheCosmos
Summary: Fitz, who went into teaching shortly after recovering from his accident in the field, is a substitute physics teacher at the school in which Simmons is the head of science. Cute flirting and pupils gossiping ensues. Plenty of fluff to come.





	1. Chapter 1

_Beep beep beep beep beep_

The sound of Fitz’s alarm pierced the quiet of his flat, almost immediately followed by his voice giving out a muffled “fuck off” from under the warmth of his duvet and the pounding of his fist on the phones screen until it finally let him sleep for another 10 minutes. This sequence was repeated several times until Fitz ventured out from under his pile of duvet and blankets to actually pick up his phone and check the time.

 “Shit!” Fitz cursed himself for being such an idiot. 8.15am. And he had to be at work, a fifteen-minute walk from his flat, by 8.30 at the latest. Jumping out of bed and practically sprinting for the bathroom he looked himself up and down in the mirror. Any other day he would’ve just skipped the shower but, considering the bedhead he was currently presented with and the fact that it was his first day at a new job, he decided it was probably necessary. He quickly tugged his shirt over his head and kicked his boxer shorts into the corner of the room before stepping into the shower and turning it on. He gasped as the freezing cold water splashed down on him before the water heater set in, at least it woke him up though, he thought. He squeezed a blob of shampoo onto his hand and, figuring that it’s essentially the same thing as shower gel, lathered it in his hair and on his body.

Now rinsed and dried hastily with a towel, he checked the time again. 8.25am. Not bad considering. Fitz made it back to his room without slipping on the puddles of water that were dripping off of him, and proceeded to get dressed into the clothes he had laid out the night before. He finished buttoning his shirt and grabbed his tie. After all, ties look smart and first impressions are important. He put it around his neck and adjusted the length of each side, then tied it. Except he didn’t quite manage that and ended up back where he started, but now with a more crinkled tie. He tried another time, and another. Then threw the tie onto his bed in frustration and moved onto his shoes, which were already tied so that he could simply slip them on and go.

Figuring the lift would take forever to come as usual, he took the stairs. Flying down the 3 flights in record time. He pelted down the street, remembering to put some chewing gum in his mouth to deal with his breath. By the time he had reached the school gates the bell was already ringing. 8.45am. _Great, I’m late_ he thought. Dodging around the crowd of pupils bustling through the main doors, Fitz managed to find the office reception. A woman, about 50, with short brown hair and a birthmark on her neck looked up at him.

“Hi, I’m Leo Fitz. The substitute physics teacher.” He flashed her a smile, which probably just made him look even more deranged than he was as he stood still panting from his run to work.

“You’re late. The head of science was expecting you 15 minutes ago. She doesn’t like it when people are late.” Said the woman in a scalding monotone voice.

Fitz nodded apologetically, “I know, sorry.”

The woman rolled her eyes and pointed to her right. “Go through those doors, along into the stairwell at the other end of the lunch hall, then up to the top floor. Room 321”

“Thanks.” Fitz said, then tried to look like he wasn’t running by speed walking ridiculously. He sped along the corridor, head turning to check each room number.

  1. He glanced through the window in the door. A woman stood at the front of the class talking to a group of around twenty teenagers. He took a breath to calm his nerves, and knocked on the door before entering.



The woman looked up at his entrance, “Dr Fitz, I’m assuming?”

Fitz nodded, “Yeah, sorry I’m so late, but my door wouldn’t lock and I didn’t want to just leave it-” he lied.

She shook her head, “Don’t worry about it. The lesson plan for today is on the desk.” She stuck out her hand for him “Dr Simmons, head of science.”

Fitz nodded again in acknowledgement, shaking her hand.

He watched as she left, closing the door behind her, then turned to address his class who where all still chatting loudly. “Alright, settle down everyone. I’m Dr Fitz, your substitute teacher while Mr Nathanson is away.” He picked up the lesson plan and scanned it, “Ok, says here you’re all to work through the questions he left you. If anyone has any questions, please ask.”

The class let out various reactions of disappointment, whispering quietly to each other as they opened they’re books and started the work assigned. Fitz took a seat at the desk and opened up the register. Once that was done, he settled in his chair and opened the workbook to see what they were working on. Most of the questions were to do with working out the energy stored in capacitors, so nothing too hard to explain. They must be fifth or sixth years then, since this was material from the higher physics course.

“Sir?” asked one of the pupils, a boy.

“Yes, Lance was it?” Fitz asked.

The class laughed at that, the boy shook his head embarrassedly. “I go by Hunter actually, it’s my last name.”

Fitz smirked, “Don’t blame you, I never go my first name either. Anyway, do you need help?”

Hunter shook his head, “No, I was just wondering. If you’re a doctor, then how come you’re a sub?” The class looked up to listen to their conversation.

Fitz paused, unsure of how to answer. “I uh- I just decided, about 3 years ago, to change from working in science and technology to teaching. I think it’s more rewarding.” Not bad, covered up the truth and sounded good.

“You can’t have worked in it for long then, you’re not that old.” Shouted out another pupil, this time it was one from the back of the room.

“As flattering as that is, I actually got my PhD when I was 17. That’s enough questions though so if you could all get back to work please.”

The class stared at him in shock. They were, after all, around 17 themselves. But they eventually went back to staring at their worksheets, gossiping amongst themselves.

 

***

 

Fitz managed to make it through two more periods without any incidents. The kids here were way better behaved than the last place he was at. Now he stood at the back of the lunch queue, trying to discern what the mysterious piles of gloop on offer were. It was then he noticed Dr Simmons coming towards him.

“Leo, that is your first name, right?” She asked.

Fitz cringed at the use of his name, “Yeah, but I go by Fitz. Look, I really am so sorry about this morning I-“

She cut him off, “OK, well Fitz. I thought I’d let you know that I expect you to be on time the rest of this week. I don’t appreciate unpunctual people.”

“No, I completely understand, me neither.” He defended, then sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in stress. Today really wasn’t his day. “Listen, can we start over? I swear I’m not always like this.”

Simmons nodded.

“Leopold Fitz, substitute physics teacher.” He stuck out his hand to shake.

Simmons took it, “Jemma Simmons, biology and chemistry teacher, also head of science.”

They smiled at each other.

“And Fitz, I heard about what happened in your last job, with the hypoxia. If there’s anything you need to help with the… results of it, then just ask me.” She said in a hushed voice.

Fitz rubbed the back of his neck, “Thanks, but I’ve mostly got it under control now. Sometimes I’ll forget a word, and I still can’t tie a tie” he gestured to his shirt, “but it’s never been an issue when I’m teaching.”

Jemma accepted his answer, and turned towards the dinner lady as their turn came up in line.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bits in bold and italics are Fitz's thoughts

Fitz checked his watch as he walked into the school for his second day. 8.20am. Not obnoxiously early, but early enough to prove he can be organised. He turned to sign in at the office, finding none other than Jemma Simmons. He cleared his throat to get her attention.

“See, told you I could be organised.” He said proudly.

Jemma smiled brightly at him, “I see that. Set a lot of alarms did you?”

Fitz laughed, picking up the pen to write his name. “I went for the ‘putting the phone at the other side of the room’ method actually, worked a treat.”

“Nicely done, Fitz.”

They walked together in a comfortable silence, until Jemma spoke again. “Oh,  I forgot to tell you yesterday. You’re on lunch hall duty with me today. It’s very simple, you just have to be in the hall for the hour in case anything happens, which it never does. The worst I’ve seen so far is people not putting their rubbish in the bin.”

Fitz nodded, “I’ve heard littering is the gateway crime.” He joked, “But yeah, that’s fine by me. I’d probably be sitting alone in the staff room otherwise.”

“To be quite honest, I’m normally alone at break times myself. The other two science teachers aren’t exactly interesting people and Nathanson can be rather irritating. It’s nice to have a good mind on the team.” She nudged his shoulder with hers as he went to walk up the stairs. “And we can use the lift, Fitz.”

“Oh thank god.” Fitz said, relieved. The stairs had just about killed him yesterday.

Simmons scanned her ID lanyard to open the lift doors. “Nice to hear that I ‘have a good mind’.” He thanked her.

Jemma pressed the button for level 3, “I did do some research on you. PhD in engineering at 17, very impressive.”

 “I guess.” He shrugged.

“Not as impressive as 2 PhDs at 17 though…” She continued.

Fitz stared at her open-mouthed, “No way…”

Jemma nodded, “Yep, I normally don’t bring it up because I think it makes me sound arrogant but since we seem to be on the same level.”

Fitz frowned, “So how come you’re not in some fancy lab somewhere then? Not to pry or anything but I had a pretty good excuse to quit field work.”

“I did work for S.H.I.E.L.D. for a bit, like you, but I just didn’t click with anyone, you know? My lab partner was an idiot and one day I couldn’t take it anymore. So I went into teaching. Much to my parent’s dismay.” She explained.

“Trust me, I know what you mean.” Fitz said, stepping out of the lift and heading to the science staff room. Once in there he reached into his bag and pulled out a mug.

Jemma laughed at him, “You know we do have those here?” she joked.

Fitz looked at her, eyebrows raised. “Yes, but at the last school I worked in they were very possessive of their mugs, this way is easier.”

“Whatever you say” she muttered, taking her own mug from the cupboard and boiling the kettle for tea.

They chatted for some time, the other two science teachers, whom Fitz was still to learn the names of, flittered in and out of the room, making tea and taking biscuits to their classrooms.

When the bell rang, Fitz stood up. “See you at break?” he asked her.

Jemma nodded, also standing up to put her mug in the sink. “I’ll meet you at your room when the bell goes, I’ve not got a class before anyway so we won’t be late going down.”

Fitz nodded, “Alright.” He smiled at her, leaving the room.

 

***

 

Fitz was wandering around the classroom, checking that everyone’s experiments were going fine. They were only checking the current of the circuits they had put together from the clear instructions, but considering their difficulty with connecting a wire to a board, they weren’t the brightest bunch. He looked round when the door opened, and Jemma walked in.

“Sorry to disturb you Dr Fitz, I just needed a new whiteboard pen.” She smiled politely at him.

“Uh yeah, no problem. Just take one of the ones from the tub on my desk.” He told her.

Jemma nodded, took a pen, then left with a quiet “Thank you.”

Fitz smiled, watching her do so. He was leaning against the table, apparently a little to much, as it it moved slightly, sending him backwards as his feet tripped over themselves, knocking a tray full of wires into a tangled mess on the floor.

The class burst out laughing. Fitz glared at them “Focus on your experiments, everyone.”

He knelt down to pick up the wires, hoping to god that break would come soon so that he could get away and tell Jemma about him making a fool of himself in front of his class. Fitz paused, frowning. **_That’s weird_** _,_ he thought, pretty much the only thing on his mind since they’d parted this morning was Jemma. Then he groaned loudly, ignoring his classes looks, **_well done Fitz, you’ve only gone and got yourself a crush on your_** _**boss**._ He would have hit himself if it wouldn’t have made him look insane.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was going to wait to post this chapter tomorrow but I figured I may as well put it up now. Hope you're enjoying it so far and don't forget to leave kudos and comments cos they motivate me to keep writing!  
> Thanks :)


	3. Chapter 3

**(This chapter is from Jemma's point of view)**

Jemma smiled triumphantly as she finished marking her last test paper. Sure, the class had done pretty atrociously, but they each got what she had predicted so there were no surprises. She checked her watch, not much longer until break now. Just enough time to make a cup of tea, or rather two (one for her, one for Fitz), before the bell went. Putting her blazer back on as she stood up, she then took her keys from her pocket so that she could lock the door after her. A precaution she had only recently started to pay close attention to since the incident with some of her sixth year class stealing the hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide and trying the experiment they had done in class on a larger scale. Sure, no one had been hurt and the results were impressive, but the head teacher hadn’t been so enthusiastic about the mess. As usual, she did a quick check of the corridor to make sure nobody had been sent out of class this period, before going into the staff base. She topped up the kettle with water and put it on to boil, getting out tea bags, milk, and mugs while she waited.

She heard the door open, and prayed it wouldn’t be one of the other teachers. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand about them, it was their incessant need for small talk. She really wasn’t looking forward to Nathanson coming back next week because then Fitz, the only teacher she’d ever gotten on with, would have to leave. But that was a problem for next week, right now she could enjoy having a real conversation with someone that actually understood everything she was saying. However, instead of being faced with one of her colleagues, she was happily surprised by one of the school’s cleaners.

Jemma gave her a quick smile in greeting, then began to apologise, “Sorry, I didn’t know you would be in just now. I’ll be out of your way in a minute.”

The cleaner shook her head, “No, don’t worry about it. I’m only emptying the bins and having a quick check round.” Jemma nodded, and let her go about her business. “Although…” said the cleaner, “I do see there’s a new science teacher if you want to know the gossip about the school?”

Jemma looked up, “That would be Dr Fitz, he’s standing in for Mr Nathanson while he’s away. Why? What are people saying about him?”

“Well, aside from his looks? The girls over in the languages department are quite smitten with him.” She laughed.

Jemma considered this for a moment, “Yes, I suppose he isn’t bad-looking. I haven’t really noticed.” She finished making the tea just in time for the bell ringing.

The cleaner’s eyebrows shot up, “You are kidding, right? He’s got great curly hair, blue eyes, and that sexy stubbly look going on. There’s also a rumour going around that the two of you have been flirting constantly. That Mrs Harker saw the two of you walking to class this morning, chatting away, bumping shoulders as you went…”

Jemma almost choked on her tea when she saw Fitz entering the room, though he hadn’t heard any of their conversation.

He cleared his throat, “Ready?” He asked, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

The cleaner gave her a knowing look as she replied and handed him his mug, at which Jemma felt her cheeks blush as their hands brushed together, a zap of electricity shooting up her arm at the moment of contact. **_It’s just static, don’t let her get in your head_** Jemma thought. Now she thought about it though, he really was quite handsome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you for reading and to everyone who's left kudos so far!  
> Please leave a comment of kudos if you liked it :)


	4. Chapter 4

Fitz and Jemma stood together at the side of the lunch hall, observing the pupils. Fitz tapped his fingers nervously against the side of his mug, was he standing abnormally close to her? Or too far? He frowned into his tea, of which he had barely drunk any, in order to avoid eye contact. Not looking at her probably looks weird too, even though they were there to prevent any behavioural issues from the students.

He looked at her, “So, um… how did your class do? You said you were gonna mark their tests.”

“Good yeah…” Fitz nodded at her reply, he was hoping for a bit more than that. “I mean,” Jemma continued, “They all got exactly what I expected them to, although Bobbi’s mark was a little lower than I would have liked. I think Hunter was distracting her during the test. I should really make sure they’re further apart next time.”

Fitz laughed, “They were in my Higher physics class earlier, spent more time flirting than actually putting together the circuit together. Seem like smart kids, though.”

Simmons nodded, “They really are, especially Bobbi. She shows so much potential in biology-“ She stopped abruptly when two of the third years started fighting.

“Oi!” yelled Fitz, running over to them and putting himself between them to split them up. Unfortunately, he had got there before anyone could hold them back and was met with a fist to the eye. At that moment the entire hall fell silent. The only noise being the shuffling still going on as a prefect help Simmons to hold the two boys back from each other.

“Make sure they get to the head teachers office without any more incidents.” Fitz instructed the prefect, one hand over his eye.

The prefect nodded, leaving with the boys in front of him.

“Everyone else, go back to what you were doing. If anyone else wants to join them in detention for the rest of the week then I will be more than happy to oblige.” She shouted, then went to check on Fitz. “You ok?”

Fitz nodded, taking his hand away. “Yeah, this can’t be good for my street cred though. Getting beaten up by a 14 year old.”

Jemma smiled at his humour, “Come on, there’s some ice packs in my classroom.” She said, guiding him by the arm.

***

Fitz sat on top of a desk in Jemma’s classroom, with an instant ice pack pressed to his eye.

“Is it bruising?” He asked her, lifting the ice pack up so she could see.

Jemma squinted at his eye, “A little, that’ll reduce the swelling though.”

Fitz took her hint to keep the ice pack on, “It might earn me some respect from the kids, I’m pretty sure they think I’m a wimp. But now I’ve got the battle scar to prove it.”

“I don’t think you’re a wimp.” She said.

Fitz looked up at her, “Really?”

She nodded, “I’ve read your C.V. remember? You did a lot of field work at S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Fitz laughed, “Yeah but I never did anything dangerous. And I had what were essentially body guards anytime they wanted me to leave the lab. The only danger I was ever in was… Well, you know.” He looked down at his hands.

“Sorry Fitz, I really didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to talk about it.”

He shook his head, still not looing up. “It’s fine, it just sucked. I’ve come to terms with the fact that there’s some things that I might never be able to do again, at least not as well as before the accident. But sometimes I feel like other people didn’t. That’s why I left, couldn’t deal with people constantly being so cautious around me, like I was broken.”

She reached out to touch his hand, “I don’t think that, Fitz.”

He looked up, and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the bell.

Jemma pulled her hand away, suddenly aware that that probably wasn’t deemed as appropriate behaviour in the workplace. “Sorry, I should go.” She stood up and started walking backwards, “I- uh- just need to get some things for my next class. I hope your eye feels better.”

Fitz was left sitting alone in the room, **_why did I have to tell her all that? I only met her yesterday, she doesn’t actually care. It just made her feel awkward_** he thought, getting up to go back to his classroom.

***

Jemma closed the supply cupboard door behind her and lent back against it, **_I shouldn’t have touched his hand, he must feel so awkward now. I shouldn’t have let this stupid crush get to me._** She cursed herself.


	5. Chapter 5

Fitz wandered up the fridge aisle in the supermarket. He started shaking his head when he saw his flatmate, Mack, walking towards him with two large bottle of milk. “We don’t need milk, there’s still half left in the one in the fridge.” He explained.

Mack dumped it in the trolley anyway, “Yeah but I need it for protein shakes and you use loads anyway. This way we don’t have to come back again because we’ve run out.” Mack pointed out.

Fitz sighed, “Fine. But if you’re getting extra milk then I’m getting extra biscuits. You ate the last of the chocolate digestives last week that I was saving.”

This just earned an exasperated look from Mack as Fitz walked off with the trolley, he had hoped that Fitz’s diet would improve when they agreed to share a flat, but if anything he’d gotten worse. Leaving him to stare at the reduced section like a good deal would appear if he did it long enough, Mack went off in search of some decent steaks for his date with Yo-Yo that night.

Fitz heard footsteps approaching and moved his trolley out of the way so they could see the section too. However, he was surprised by the voice that accompanied the footsteps.

“Oh, hi Fitz. I didn’t expect to see you in here.” Came the voice of Jemma Simmons.

Fitz’s head whipped round, “Jemma, uh me neither. It’s great to see you!” he beamed, “I mean, unexpected. Because I saw you earlier, at school I mean, and now we’re both here and…” He stopped himself from babbling, “But yeah, nice to see you.” He nodded to indicate that his embarrassing moment was over. He then went to lean back, with his hand on the trolley. Except the trolley wasn’t there and he flailed as his body fell backwards, he would have gone straight to the floor if Jemma hadn’t quickly grabbed his arm to balance him. Once he was securely back on his feet he straightened out his clothes and thanked her.

Jemma with him at his clumsiness, or rather more at him. “I’m glad I’ve run into you, actually.”

That made Fitz heart flutter with excitement, **_she wanted to see him_**. “Yeah?” He tried to play it cool, or even mild would do.

She nodded lightly, “Yes, I know tomorrow’s supposed to be your last day but there’s been a bit of a complication.”

**_OK, she meant to tell him something to do with work. God, he needs to calm down about this._** He thought, raising his eyebrows slightly in reaction to what she had said.

Jemma continued, “It turns out that Nathanson was actually away interviewing for another job. I really don’t understand why he didn’t give any notice but he’s quit working at the school. Which leaves us without a physics teacher.”

Fitz nodded as he took in the information, “So you were wondering if I can stay until you’ve replaced him, yeah?”

Jemma shook her head, “Well actually, I was hoping you would be interested in the position. I know it’s not the best school, but the kids really seem to like you, and from what I’ve seen you are a great teacher.” Fitz was taken aback; he didn’t think he was that good. Or any good at teaching at all to be honest. Jemma looked down at her feet, “Obviously you would still have to interview and everything, the head teacher makes the final decision, but even without my suggestion, you would 100% get the job.” She took a breath, “And- um- it would mean that we could still, you know, see each other.” She felt her cheeks heat up, and decided to cover her tracks, “I mean, professionally speaking. We would be able to work together, having someone in the science department that can actually _do_ science would be very helpful.”

Fitz realised his mouth had been open in shock for an inordinate length of time, “Yeah, that’d- well that’d be brilliant actually.” He smiled at her, **_professionally speaking, Fitz, she doesn’t bloody fancy you, you idiot_** he thought.

The stood smiling at each other for a second, before Mack returned with a collection of food he’d found on his mission to find steaks.

“Alright Turbo, who’s this?” He asked.

Fitz turned around, he had completely forgotten he was shopping. “Hm? Oh yeah. Mack this is Jemma Simmons, she’s the department head at the school. Jemma, this is my flatmate Mack.”

Jemma smiled up at him, and shook his hand in introduction. “It’s lovely to meet you, Mack.”

Mack nodded, “Yeah, you too.” Then he looked at Fitz, “Sorry to interrupt, but Yo-Yo’s coming round soon.”

“Oh, ok.” He tried to stop himself from looking disappointed at the prospect of leaving his conversation with Jemma. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” She smiled at him, watching as he walked down the aisle away from her.

Fitz caught Mack smirking as they walked, “What?”

Mack let out a laugh, “You like her.”

Fitz panicked, “Well, I mean, she is nice. Seems like she’d be a good… friend.”

Mack laughed again, “I didn’t mean as a friend, Turbo, and you know it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I meant to write this a few days ago but I've been busy sorting stuff out for Christmas.  
> Hope you guys are liking this so far, please leave a comment if you are! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Fitz walked through from the bathroom to his bedroom in his towel, closed the door behind him, then pulled his usual combination of a crumpled shirt and trousers out of his wardrobe. He tossed them onto his messy bed and turned back to get socks and underwear when something caught his eye. **_Maybe something different would be better for today? It is his first day being an official teacher at the school after all_**. He nodded to himself and picked out his nicer suit, a fitted white shirt with black stitching through the middle of the collar, and a black blazer with white at the top of the breast pocket. After putting it on he eyed the matching tie in the back of his wardrobe, sighing, he decided it was at least worth a try. He stood in front of his mirror and focused, slowly going through the steps of tying a tie and making sure his hands didn’t get muddled. After three tries he had managed a somewhat decent looking knot. He smoothed down his shirt and looked in the full length mirror, **_not bad_** , he thought, **_and if Jemma thought so too, then even better_**. Leaving his messy room behind him, he went through to get a quick breakfast before leaving for work.

 

***

Jemma finished her early morning run on her treadmill, drinking the last of the water in her bottle before heading for a shower. She quickly finished washing and dressed in the outfit she had laid out the night before, usually she’d choose an outfit that was both professional and comfortable, but today she had opted for something a little more flattering. **_Not that she was trying to impress anyone, this was purely for herself. And definitely not to impress a certain new Physics teacher. That would be unprofessional._** She reminded herself. **_But if Fitz was to notice that she looked particularly nice that day, who was she to stop him?_** She shook her head, telling herself once again that he could only be interested in her as a friend, he was handsome, and smart, and funny, and quite possibly the most brilliant person she had ever met. **_Not that she fancied him, or anything_**. She gathered her towel and workout clothes and tidied them away in her laundry basket before sitting down in front of the mirror to sort her hair and make up.

 

***

Fitz unlocked _his_ classroom, revelling in the feeling of having his own classroom. He placed his bag down beside his desk and went to start drawing the diagram for his first lesson on the whiteboard when he saw a large silver ‘Congratulations’ balloon on top of one of the desks. He moved over to it and found an envelope underneath it, he opened it to find a card from Jemma:

_To Fitz,_

_Congratulations on your new job! Looking forward to having you on the team._

_From Jemma_

Smiling, he put the balloon behind his desk and placed the card next to his computer.

 

***

Fitz watched over his class as he typed up some more lesson plans for the next week. They were all talking but they were still getting their work done, and it was still early in the first period so there was no point ruining their good moods by making them work in silence. But as he tried to keep working, Jemma’s card kept catching his eye, making him smile even more each time. He stopped typing and tapped the desk with his thumb a few times. **_She only had first years just now, so it’s not like interrupting her would be a problem_**. He reasoned, picking up the phone on his desk and inputting the internal phone system number for her room. She picked up almost immediately.

“Dr Simmons room” She answered.

“Hi Jemma, It’s me. Fitz.” He spoke in a voice quiet enough that his class wouldn’t hear.

He noticed the significant brightening in her voice, “Fitz! Hi, what can I help you with?”

**_Shit, he hadn’t actually thought this far._** “I-um… I was just wondering; do you know when my account on the computers will be sorted? So I’m not filling up your files with my documents. Lesson plans and all that.”

“Oh,” **_Did she sound, disappointed? No, he must have been imagining it_**. “It might take until tomorrow, the technicians usually start a quick job then get disrupted by people coming in with other problems, like broken computers. If you just keep any of your documents in a file with your name on it that should be fine.”

“Alright, thank you. Oh- and thank you for the balloon and the card, Jemma. You didn’t have to go to that trouble for me.” He said in an effort to prolong their conversation for as long as possible.

“You’re welcome, Fitz. It really wasn’t any trouble at all.”

Fitz cleared his throat, “OK, well I guess I’ll talk to you late then?”

“Yep, talk to you later.” She said. There was a pause where neither of them hung up. “Fitz, what are you doing for lunch?” she asked.

“Um, nothing- I’ve got a sandwich so I was just gonna have that in the staff base.”

“Ok, it’s just that I’ve got a new documentary that I want to use in the first year classes and I need someone else opinion, if you wouldn’t mind giving up your lunch break?”

Fitz grinned again, “No, that would be great. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

Fitz hung up and leaned back in his chair, **_It’s not a date_** , he reminded himself, **_she just needs his professional opinion on a lesson plan_**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw the outfit Fitz is wearing is the same one that he's wearing in 3x18.  
> Also, sorry this is much later going up than planned but I kept getting called in to work shifts so haven't had much time recently.  
> Hope you liked this chapter, please leave kudos and comments.  
> I've planned out the next few chapters so I'm hoping to write a few of them tomorrow so I have a back-up of them for over christmas! :)


	7. Chapter 7

When the lunch bell finally rang, Fitz tried to get his class to leave as quickly as possible. However, he hadn’t accounted for so many of them wanting to ask him questions on the topic, he blamed himself for setting their test for the next week. All they really wanted to know was what the questions would be.

He lost his patience at the third person to ask him if there would be a question on resistors and decided to put an end to it, “Everyone, this is a test on the electronics topic so yes, there will probably be a question involving resistors but honestly I’ve only written two questions for it so I don’t even know myself. Go and have your lunch.” That had come out a tad angrier than he had planned but at least he hadn’t resorted to yelling at them all.

Once the final pupil had left his classroom he locked up and headed to the staff base to get his lunch.

“Are you not eating with us today?” asked one of the other science teachers. **_Mark? Or maybe he was Don?_**

“Uh no, I’ve got a meeting with Jemma about class plans, that sort of thing.”

He heard him try to stifle a laugh, “Yeah, you too seem to have _meetings_ all the time.”

Fitz frowned, “Excuse me?” he knew very well what was being insinuated.

Mark/Don laughed it off, “Nothing.”

Fitz decided to ignore him and left for Jemma’s classroom. The door was open so he decided against knocking and instead cleared his throat so as to not startle Jemma, who was sitting on top of one of the tables.

“Fitz, just on time, it’s just started.” She gestured for him to sit.

Fitz glanced around the room, **_not sitting next to her would look weird, but there was also a fine line between a normal distance apart and too close_**. “So, what’s the documentary on?” he asked, joining her in sitting on the table, with his feet resting on the chair in front.

“The Amazon rainforest. I thought it would tie nicely in with the global warming project this year since it covers deforestation.”

Fitz nodded and started on his lunch as he watched the film.

After spending the last half an hour with his eyes focused on the screen he figured a quick glance at her would be acceptable, just to gauge her reaction on the film. Which, as it turned out, was a terrible idea as he couldn’t bring himself to look away again. She’d worn her hair down today rather than in a neat ponytail and the slight curls that naturally led his eyes down to her- **_eyes up fitz! Don’t be a creep_** he yelled in his head. Now his focus on the film was very much broken he stared down at his hands which now felt awkward no matter where he rested them. He looked back up at the screen and frowned as he tried to figure out what they were talking about.

**_Impact on the wildlife? OK, that’s something to focus on. Dying monkeys and tigers or whatever. God Jemma smells good. Shit, focus Fitz. Was that coconut shampoo? Coconuts come from trees so that’s on topic. It’s just a coincidence that they also link to thinking about Simmons. Maybe another glance would be fine. If he made it quick._ **

He turned his head so slightly to the left that she couldn’t notice and- **_wait, was she looking at me?_** He frowned and turned his head more to the left. **_Yep, she is definitely looking at me. Shit, she saw me glance down at her- uh boobs- earlier._** He fixed his gaze back on the screen and saw her do the same. But there was nothing he could do to help himself from looking back at her. She frowned lightly, her brows crinkling in the middle as she looked back at him and he felt himself lean in and saw her doing the same. His eyes rapidly moved from her eyes to her lips and back, as he tried to figure out if she wanted this too. They were barely millimetres away from each other and he could feel her breath on his skin, his hand had reached out to touch her waist as they came closer and closer together. Her eyes fluttered shut and his did the same, Fitz’s heart beat heavily in his chest in anticipation. Their lips were about to meet and-

They jumped apart as the bell rung out loudly.

“I should-“

“I’ve got a class coming-“

“Me too, I’ll uh- bye.” Fitz stuttered out as he walked clumsily backwards, his head still dizzy from only a moment ago and his heart still thudding away in his chest.


	8. Chapter 8

Jemma leaned against one of the cabinets in the main staff base when she saw Fitz come in. They hadn’t seen each other since lunch the previous day, mainly because each had been avoiding each other as much as possible. Which was extremely difficult considering they worked in neighbouring classrooms. She waved at him in acknowledgement, trying not to look too nervous as he came up to her.

“Hi.” Fitz nodded to her, tapping his hand against his leg anxiously.

Jemma was about to open her mouth to speak when the head teacher stood up to begin the weekly morning meeting.

“Just a few quick notices today.” he began, pausing before his next statement as everyone quieted down. “Firstly, the lift in section B of the school is out of order so I’m afraid you’ll have to take the stairs until they’re sorted. Secondly, would all teachers that have 6th year pupils registering with them for free periods please ensure they are accounted for and not wandering around the town as their have been complaints from shop owners of loitering.” Fitz noticed Jemma rolling her eyes at this, she’d spent a significant section of their shared free period talking about the new rules that meant 6th years had to stay with the teachers they registered with for frees. She did have a point though, having a pupil sitting up the back of your class all the time was incredibly irritating.

“On a more joyful note,” continued the head teacher, “Jemma Simmons has been granted extra funding to start a science quiz team from the University of Glasgow.”

Fitz raised his eyebrows at that one, **_she hadn’t mentioned anything to him about it_** , “Congratulations.” He whispered to her.

“And to conclude this weeks meeting, I’d like to officially welcome Dr Leopold Fitz to our school. He was working as a substitute for Mr Nathanson in science but this is his first week as an official permanent member of staff.”

Fitz smiled as he received a few nods in welcome from the rest of the staff. Once people had started to leave for their classes, he left with Jemma. “I didn’t know you’d applied for funding.” He said.

“I didn’t.” admitted Simmons, “It was the university that contacted me, they wanted a way of encouraging those most likely to apply to for science courses to choose them so they’ve set up quiz challenges between schools. I was hoping to recruit a few of our best senior pupils for the team, the first round is only a week away.”

Fitz nodded, “Sounds good, I can definitely think of some pupils who would be up for it.”

Jemma hesitated before her next question, “The only problem is that it’s hosted at the university so we’d need two teachers to volunteer to take them, there’s only enough funding for accommodation.”

“Huh.” Fitz was pretty sure where she was going with this.

“So,” she continued, “I have to go because I’m the only female science teacher here, and I was rather hoping that… that you would be the second teacher.”

“Huh.” He repeated.

“You don’t have too, I can ask someone else, or even see if there’s a parent who could do it but-“

“No, it’s fine. It sounds good.” The prospect of spending a weekend away with Jemma Simmons, even with a few students with them, was way more exciting than spending it hanging around his flat alone.

She tried her best not to smile at that, “Thank you so much, Fitz. You’re brilliant.”

Fitz shrugged, “Yeah well, can’t let you go with the other two idiots you’ve got in your department”


	9. Chapter 9

Simmons rubbed the back of her neck in an attempt to relieve the ache that had presented itself an hour into her ridiculously huge pile of marking. Despite having been working through it all night, she had barely made a dent, the unmarked pages still largely outweighing the marked. Which, admittedly, was partly her fault for assigning so much in the first place. She checked her watch, _11.26pm_. She sighed, deciding to call it a night, and stood up from where she had been sitting on the floor, with her back against the sofa. She had just begun tidying away the papers into their neat folders when she noticed her phone buzzing on the coffee table. She picked it up, smiling as Fitz name and contact photo flashed up on her screen, and tapped the screen to answer.

Before she managed to say hello, Fitz had jumped straight into the conversation. “Donnie Gill.” He stated, with no explanation.

Jemma frowned, naturally perplexed by Fitz’s start to the phone call. “A great pupil, what about him?”

“Hm?” said Fitz, “Oh, right. Yeah, Donnie Gill. For the quiz team.”

Jemma smiled to herself, **_that could have easily waited until the morning_**. “Yes! He’d be perfect Fitz. I’m going to talk to Bobbi Morse tomorrow about it, if you could get Donnie, then we’d only need one more.” She lay back onto her sofa, stretching her neck from side to side.

“Cool, any ideas for number three? We’d preferably need someone from your chemistry class.”

Jemma nodded, then remembered that nodding served no purpose since it was a phone call, “It’s a hard call, Bobbi’s in my chemistry class so next to her the rest don’t exactly stand out as candidates. I mean, they’re mostly smart enough for it but choosing will be difficult.”

Fitz laughed, “I didn’t really have that problem. My next option was Milton, who may get good results but god is he an insufferable twat.” There was a pause before he cleared his throat, “Sorry, I know I shouldn’t talk about them like that.”

Jemma could barely contain the fit of giggles that had come over her, “Trust me Fitz, that rule gets thrown out of the window as soon as you’re talking to another teacher that has him.”

“Good to know.” Replied Fitz, “Oh god, I’ve just seen the time. I didn’t wake you up did I? I thought it was earlier I swear.”

“No, no. You’re fine. I’d just given up on marking for the night.”

“Same here. Anyway, Jemma, I should probably think about going to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

Jemma felt a twinge of sadness, but tried her best to hide it in her voice. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Fitz.”

“Night Jemma.”

She hung up the phone and placed it back on the coffee table. Burying her head into a cushion, she let out a shout of anger at herself. **_Yes, he was attractive. And yes, he was also smart, kind, funny, and pretty much perfect. But he was also another teacher. And she knew it was inappropriate to let her work life and personal life mix._**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, keep meaning to write these then getting distracted. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! Hope you're all enjoying this fic :)


	10. Chapter 10

Fitz jumped at the sound of knocking on his classroom door, turning his computer screen just out of view so whoever it was wouldn’t know he’d been doing Buzzfeed quizzes the entire period.

“Sir?”

Fitz tried not to visibly cringe at Milton’s voice, he was probably a lovely kid but his constant need to gloat about results that were only a little above average was unbelievably irritating. “Milton, I wasn’t expecting to see you this period.”

The boy cleared his throat, like he had something important to announce (another annoying habit of his). “I was wondering if there was a space left on the science quiz team? I take chemistry as well as physics, and I’m sure Dr Simmons would be happy to have me on the team since I’m one of her top students.”

Fitz clenched his jaw, **_‘one of’_** **_being the he imperative term_**. “As far as I know we’ve got a space left, I’ll have to check with Dr Simmons to make sure she hasn’t already filled it but I’ll let you know once I’ve found out.”

Milton nodded, leaving the room without thanking Fitz for his time. Fitz listened out for Milton’s footsteps to check that he was out of sight before going to Jemma’s room.

He looking through the glass section in her door to check that she was in there before knocking. Once she waved him in, he opened the door. “Je- Dr Simmons, sorry but could I borrow you for a moment?”

Jemma frowned but walked out into the corridor to meet him.

“We have a problem.” Fitz announced dramatically, “Milton just asked if he could join the team.”

Jemma groaned, “What did you tell him?”

“That as far as I knew we had a space, but I’d have to check with you first.”

She thought it over for a second, “We still do. And we can’t say no without good reason.”

“Is his personality reason enough?” Fitz joked.

“Unfortunately no. Plus, as painful as it is to admit, he does get good marks in two of science subjects so unless either of us have any other ideas, we have to say yes.”

There was a silence while they mulled over the situation, “So Milton it is then.”

Simmons nodded in fateful agreement, “Milton it is.”

“I’ll go find him and let him know.”

“Thanks Fitz…” She swallowed, watching him turn to leave. “Listen, we could do with some time to organise all of this. I was thinking, if you’re not busy, then maybe you could come over to mine tonight? Talk through an action plan?”

Fitz failed miserably at suppressing his smile as he whipped back around, “Yeah, of course. Um- is seven good for you?”

Jemma smiled back at him, “Seven’s good for me.” She felt herself starting to blush, “I’d better get back to my class though.”

“Alright, see you at seven then.”

Jemma cleared her throat and flattened down her already neat shirt, regaining her posture before going back into her room.


	11. Chapter 11

Fitz was pacing nervously around his flat when Mack came back from the gym.

“Hey Turbo, you doing ok there?” Mack asked, frowning at his friend who was now also muttering inaudibly as he went.

“Huh?” Fitz glanced up, ceasing his pacing and instead rapidly tapping the fingers of his right hand against his thigh.

“You seem a little freaked out over there, is all.” Mack explained, heading to the fridge to grab a beer, he held up one to offer Fitz but he declined with a sharp shake of his head. “You sure? It might help to calm you down.”

Fitz shook his head again, “I don’t want to drink tonight” he said, raising his hands to emphasise his point, “Anything that might raise my confidence is a definite no, last time we were alone I tried to kiss her… and- and at the time I thought she might have liked me in that way, but… I don’t know.”

“I’m fairly certain that she does.” Mack chuckled at Fitz’s reaction to that.

“You don’t know that, Mack.”

Mack took a deep breath, he didn’t think he’d have to prove his point, but it wasn’t exactly hard to do. “Yeah I do. I may have only met her once but it was enough to know. Everything about her body language when the two of you were talking, subtle things like the way she leaned in, intent to make physical contact but hesitating and dropping her arm. You really need to learn to pick these things up.”

Fitz finally stopped fidgeting with stress, “You really think so?” He asked.

Mack nodded.

“OK, but there is still an unavoidable problem.” Fitz thought out loud, “She’s technically my boss.”

“So?”

He sighed “So, it would be unprofessional. Jemma’s the reason I’ve got this job, if anything was to happen between us, then people might think she only gave me the job because…” Fitz trailed off, allowing Mack to figure out the ending to that sentence by himself.

“First of all, Fitz, you didn’t get the job because of her” Mack assured Fitz, “She just told you that the job existed, your experience and ability got you the job. And secondly, who cares about professionalism? Workplace romances are so common that it’s practically inevitable.”

Fitz considered his argument for a few moments, nodding when he come to a conclusion. “Ok, if- and I mean _if_ \- there’s a… a moment. Then I will _consider_ discussing it with her.”

Mack raised his eyebrows and smirked, “And by ‘ _consider’_ you mean you will undeniably go for it?”

Fitz glared at him, “No, by ‘ _consider’_ I mean consider. We’re good friends, it’s still a risk even if she does like me.”

Mack nodded, “Alright Turbo.” Then, noticing that Fitz was reverting back to being a nervous mess he said “You’ve got nothing to be nervous about. It’s just a meeting about a school trip. And _if_ anything does happen, then it happens. Ok?”

“Ok.”

 


	12. Chapter 12

Fitz was sitting in a taxi on the way to Jemma’s apartment when his phone started ringing. His heart somehow managed to both sink and flutter when he saw who it was. On one hand, she could just be checking he remembered. On the other, she could be cancelling. Taking a breath, he answered. “Hi Jemma.” **_That came out a tad less calm than he had hoped_**.

“Hi Fitz, I was just wanting to check- have you eaten yet? I was going to order Chinese food, if you wanted some?”

Fitz smiled, “Yeah- I mean, I haven’t eaten. I’m not fussy so just order whatever’s good. I’m just in a taxi on my way now.”

“Ok, I’ll see you in a bit then.”

“Yeah, what was the flat number again?” He asked, fully aware that it was A2 but wanting to spin out the conversation some more.

“It’s A2, just press the buzzer at the main door and I’ll let you in.”

“Thanks, see you then.” He said.

“Ok, bye.”

Fitz locked his phone and slid it back into his pocket.

“So, off on a date then?” Asked the taxi driver, filling the silence of the journey.

“No- well, not officially anyway. My flatmate reckons it is but we’re just meeting up to go over some work stuff.”

The driver laughed, “I’ve heard that before. Best of luck to you mate.” He said, pulling up the car.

“Thanks.” Replied Fitz, paying him before getting out and walking up to the door. He pressed the button next to A2 and waited for an answer.

“Fitz?” came Jemma’s voice through the speaker.

“Yeah, it’s me.” He responded, opening the door once he heard it beep.

At the end of the hall was A1, so he guessed that she was on the next floor up. Reaching the top of the flight of stairs, he paused to prepare himself before knocking on her door.

“It’s unlocked.” Shouted Jemma from inside.

Fitz turned the handle and stepped inside. Jemma was hanging up the phone as he entered.

“Food’s on it’s way.” She said.

Fitz nodded, “Cool.”

“So, I’ve done some research and I’ve come up with a few options for travel and accommodation for you to look at. Then we need to sort out topic allocation for the team, and figure out the best strategy to prepare them.” Jemma explained to him, gesturing for him to sit down at the table, where she had put print-outs of her research.

Fitz scanned the information, considering the pros and cons lists that she had made for each option. **_God that’s adorable_** he thought, she had mentioned that she ‘excelled at preparation’ but this was another level.

“Ok,” he began, “I’d say staying in the university halls accommodation in probably our best bet. They’ll be clean since the new year hasn’t started yet, and they can give them an idea of what it’d be like to actually be a student at Glasgow.”

Jemma smiled, “That’s what I was thinking, I’ve already spoken with the accommodation offices and they’re fine with it, so I can call them tomorrow to confirm.”

Fitz nodded, “And for travel, I think it’s really just up to you. Everything’s about the same distance from both the school and the university and the costs are pretty much the same.”

“OK, so train then? It’s a little bit quicker than a bus and we don’t have to worry about traffic jams.”

“Sounds good. Do you have any plans for preparation?” He asked.

They talked for around 45 minutes more, the ease of discussion between the two of them making decisions quick and easy, and with no conflict of opinions.

“Alright.” Jemma said, collecting up their notes and putting them into a paper folder. “I think that’s everything.”

Fitz nodded, realising that he should probably leave soon and trying to mask his disappointment.

The buzzer next to the door went off and Jemma stood up to answer, then let them in.

“That’s the food arrived, I thought it would come earlier- and that this would take longer to be honest.” She said.

Fitz glanced down at his hands, “Yeah. Listen, I don’t want to be a burden so I can just go-“

“What? No.” Jemma seemed genuinely taken aback, then cleared her throat and lowered her voice, trying to come across as less affected by Fitz wanting to leave. “I mean, we’ve got the food, so why don’t you just stay a bit longer?”

“You sure?” He asked, **_maybe Mack was right after all_**.

Jemma nodded, smiling over at him. “I’m sure.”


	13. Chapter 13

Fitz and Simmons were sitting on her living room floor, with a mess of empty takeout containers covering the coffee table in front of them. After finding out that they both loved Doctor Who as much as the other, Jemma had opened Netflix on her TV and started at the first episode of series one. Well over two hours had passed since then. Neither of them wanting to propose stopping as the fourth episode started.

When Jemma glanced over to him, Fitz was frowning at the coffee table.

“Fitz, you ok?” She asked.

Fitz didn’t break his concentrated stare at the table while speaking, “Honestly I’m a little worried. I’m so stuffed that I can barely move, but my brain’s still telling me to eat that leftover prawn cracker.”

Jemma swatted his arm playfully as they both broke out into laughter.

“Eurgh,” Jemma complained, “Laughing was a bad idea.”

Fitz looked over to her, “Or maybe the bad idea was us eating our weight in noodles.”

“Quite possibly.”

She was smiling at him, and Fitz couldn’t help but stare in awe at how brilliant she was. It was very unlikely, in his opinion, that her smile could ever fail to brighten up a room. Or that the thrill of him making her laugh, that adorable, ridiculous laugh, would not spread warmth through him. Caught up in his own thoughts of just how fantastic she was, he reached out his hand to hold hers. But halfway through the journey from his side to hers, it took a sharp detour and instead picked up an empty container as a cover. “I’ll-uh..” he stuttered, trying to pass off his action as something else entirely, “I’ll tidy up for you.” He said, piling up more containers to carry over to the bin.

A flash of disappointment coloured Jemma’s face, “Oh, okay. I guess it is getting kind of late…” she looked down at her hands so he wouldn’t notice.

Fitz stopped fumbling with the empty boxes on the table, “Sorry, I didn’t mean that in a ‘I should leave’ way. Unless you want me to?”

The silence before her answer almost killed him, “No, stay. We don’t have work tomorrow, and it’d be a same to cut off halfway through an episode…”

Fitz grinned, “Very true, it would be an insult to the show not to finish.” He continued picking up the rubbish, and carried it over to the bin in the kitchen, quite proud that he hadn’t dropped any of it, then returned to where he had been sitting before.

Now that there was no other task to focus on, like eating, he was suddenly extraordinarily aware of the distance between them. Reminding himself of the conversation he had had with Mack before coming, he scooted closer to her as inconspicuously as he could. Then he stared back up at the screen like nothing had happened. Which really, it hadn’t. But for some reason she had made him start acting like a nervous teenager again, rather than an adult who should really be able to at least be able to stretch his arm along the sofa, without feeling like his heart was about to explode.

Moving that little bit closer to her had already increased his heart rate by about 10%. Then he felt movement next to him, and turned his head to see that she had inched closer to him. He was reminded of the moment in her classroom when they had watched that documentary, when he had, despite his better judgement at the time, leaned in. He wondered what would have happened if the bell hadn’t rung, if he had been able to close those millimetres between them. Ignoring the fact that his heart was currently beating faster than if he had just run a marathon, he spoke in tone so quiet it was practically a whisper. “Jemma.” He took a deep breath as her gaze locked onto his. **_Don’t back out, don’t back out_** he repeated in his head. He took one last glance at her lips and went for it. He felt her hand stroke across his jaw, and her other loop around the back of his neck, pulling him closer to her. He responded by grasping her waist, his body turned so that they were pressed tightly against each other. He felt lightheaded as she opened her mouth, turning what had begun as a nervous, hesitant kiss into something more suggestive. Despite the fact that every ounce of his being was telling him not to, he pulled slowly away, bringing his hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear. She rested her forehead against his, retracting her hands back to his jaw from where they had strayed to in the curls of his hair.

“Fitz…” She breathed, fingers stroking gently over his stubbled jaw.

“Mmm?” was all he could say, his head still spinning.

But she didn’t reply with words, instead with another kiss. This time he guided her onto his lap, hands sliding under the back of her top as she started unbuttoning his shirt, placing kisses along his neck and jawline as she undid each button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, feel like I haven't posted anything in ages but I've been so busy this week with uni stuff. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it! :)


	14. Chapter 14

Fitz was roused from sleep by movement beside him. It took a moment for his sleep muddled brain to register his situation, but the fact that he was quite clearly not in his own room, and had a girl (not just a girl, but _Jemma Simmons_ ) next to him helped to jog his memory of the night before. And oh what a night it had been. He looked over at Simmons, who had settled down, her head now resting under his arm, with one hand lying by his hip, just at the waistband of his boxers. He stroked his hand through her hair, brushing it out of the way of her face. If it was up to him, he would have stayed in that moment forever, just watching how peaceful she looked. But unfortunately, it wasn’t up to him. Or her, for that matter. Instead his perfect moment was interrupted by the shrill ringing of his mobile phone. He looked around wildly, hoping to silence the damned thing before Jemma would notice, but he wasn’t entirely sure where it was. By the time he’d located its whereabouts, Jemma had woken up.

“Fitz?” she grumbled, still groggy from sleep, pulling him closer to her.

“Yeah, sorry I thought I’d turned it off. I’ll be right back.” He promised her, sliding out from underneath her and heading towards his trousers, which had been discarded near the bedroom door. Rifling through his pockets, he quickly found the offending object and would have hung up if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Mack, and that he had a screen full of unread texts from him. He punched the answer symbol and held it up to his ear.

“Hey.”

“Hey? You serious Turbo? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours, where the hell are you?” Mack shouted through the phone, making Fitz hold it slightly away from his ear to save himself from a burst ear drum.

“Sorry, I was- uh… busy” He said, glancing over at Jemma. He would’ve normally been embarrassed by how exposed he was, standing in the middle of her room in just his pants. But the way she was staring at him made him think that maybe she was rather happy with his current state of undress.

“Wait, what do you mean busy? You’re never up before 12pm on a Saturday and it’s currently 10am. Did you come home last night?” His tone was becoming less angry and more proud as he spoke.

Fitz coughed awkwardly, “Why do you need to talk to me anyway?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Oh my god, you stayed at Jemma’s last night didn’t you? What did I tell you?”

“Mack.”

“Right, yeah. Don’t you remember? We’ve got a meeting with the landlord today to renew our lease. It’s in under an hour and you kind of have to be there.”

“Shit.” Fitz said, “Sorry, I totally forgot. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Hanging up, he turned to Jemma. “Jemma, I am so sorry but I have to get back to mine. I’ve got a meeting with my landlord and I completely forgot about it.”

Jemma nodded, “It’s fine Fitz.” She said, reaching into her bedside drawer to grab a t-shirt and pyjama shorts.

Fitz had also started gathering his clothes and getting dressed.

“I’ll call you as soon as I’m done, ok?” he said, the two of them drifting closer together.

Jemma nodded, taking his hand in hers. “Ok.” She muttered, her eyes focusing in on his lips.

He took her hint and leaned down, only meaning for it to be a quick kiss goodbye but failing miserably at self-control.

Jemma pulled back hesitantly to speak, “Sure you can’t stay?” she whispered breathlessly.

Fitz sighed, “Well, I have always thought that having somewhere to live was overrated.” He said, capturing her lips as they formed a smile at his joke. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Mmm.” Agreed Jemma her hand still intertwined with his. “Do you want me to call a taxi?”

Fitz shook his head, “Nah, I’ll just get an Uber, it’ll be quicker.”

Jemma nodded, and walked to the door, where she finally let go of her hand. “As soon as you’re finished?” She emphasised.

“As soon as I’m finished.” He confirmed, kissing her one last time before backing out of her flat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, there might be a bit of a delay between chapters at the moment cos I've got a lot of work to do at Uni (the fic's called sorry I'm late so honestly I don't know what you expected) :)


	15. Chapter 15

Jemma had been perched on the edge of her sofa for the last hour, staring at her phone which sat being obnoxiously silent the whole time. It was then that she realised how pathetic she must have looked, desperately waiting for a boy to call her. Putting her pride ahead of the niggling worry that he wasn’t going to call ( ** _Fitz would never do that to her_** ), she decided to at least try and be productive, and brought a recently updated biology journal up on her laptop. She’d barely made it through the abstract and introduction of the first article before she found her eyes and mind being drawn back to her phone. She shook her head and closed over her laptop, then marched through to her bedroom. If science didn’t distract her enough, then she’d have to turn to manual labour. She quickly but neatly made her bed, trying to ignore the fact that they still smelt so wonderfully of Fitz, and completely failed at keeping out the memories of their… _relations_ from the night before. She was only pulled out of her fantasising about her fellow science teacher when the familiar sound of her ringtone sounded in the living room. Immediately dropping what she was doing, she rushed through, taking a moment before answering to steady her breathing.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hi Jemma, it’s me.”

She cleared her throat, “Hi Fitz…”

There was no reply from the other end but she could hear his steady breathing in the silence. “So, we should probably talk about last night… yeah?”

Her heart sped up, she was fairly certain that they had both wanted and been long anticipating (well, maybe not too long, but as long as they’d really known each other) what had happened. “Yeah.” When he didn’t reply again, she took the situation into her own hands. “If you’re free just now we could meet up? Go for coffee or something?”

“My schedule’s clear.” He said, and she could feel his smile in his tone. “Coffee sounds good, I can meet you at yours then I’m sure we’ll find somewhere?”

“Nonsense, Fitz. You had to come to mine last night, we don’t actually live that far away from each other, I can walk to yours.”

“What about a compromise then? There’s a place in the middle that looked nice. I can meet you there in an hour?” He suggested.

“Deal, send me the address and I’ll be there.” She thought for a second before saying, “And Fitz?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad that what happened…  happened.” She told him.

“I am too.” He replied, leaving Jemma grinning from ear to ear before rushing off to choose what she was going to wear for her _first date with Fitz._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you're supposed to be writing an essay but you get distracted...  
> Hope you're all enjoying this, considering that I'm neglecting my degree for it it better be good :)  
> Please leave kudos and comments if you liked it


	16. Chapter 16

Jemma glanced up and down the street. She picked anxiously at the hem of her top, which really wasn’t weather appropriate, leaving her shivering slightly whenever the wind picked up. She checked the time on her phone, wishing the minutes would go by faster. She heard her text alert and checked it again.

_“I’m about five minutes away, if you get there before me just go in”_

Following his instructions, Jemma went into the café and chose a booth table in the back corner. She sat down, and stayed awkwardly still for a minute, before picking up a menu and looking over it without really paying any attention to what was written. Finally, she saw Fitz walking in and let out a nervous breath before waving him over.

Instinctively, Jemma stood up when he reached the table. Then realised that neither of them knew exactly what the protocol was in this situation so just sat down again, trying and failing to not seem so self-conscious. “Hi.” She greeted him, once they were both sitting.

Fitz nodded, “Hey.”

She opened her mouth to say something else but was caught by the way he was looking at her. She wondered for a moment how on earth he achieved such a breath taking gaze.

Fitz slid the salt shaker in front of him and rotated it slowly with his fingers. “So… I-uh…” He seemed to be looking anywhere but at her while saying this. Then he laughed lightly at his own stupid behaviour. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I just- I just don’t want things to get weird between us, you know?”

“I know.” She paused when she caught his eyes again, “First of all, I think we need to discuss what this means for us professionally. After all, I am technically your boss.”

Fitz stopped rotating the salt shaker and moved it back to the side. “Yeah, that does kind of complicate things. But I don’t see any reason why we can’t continue working together, and then if there is a problem…” He trailed off.

“Then we figure it out.” She finished.

Fitz smiled at her, then turned around when he heard someone clear their throat. He made an odd strangled noise when he saw who was standing in front of them, with a small notebook and pen in his hands.

“Hunter.” Jemma smiled at the teenager, “I didn’t know you worked here. Dr Fitz and I are just going over plans for the science quiz trip.” She lied.

Hunter frowned down at his hands, trying not to make eye contact after ‘accidentally’ hearing their conversation. “Mm-hm.” He nodded, desperately trying not laugh at the fact that he was witnessing two of his teachers on a secret date. “Bobbi was telling me about that yesterday…” He quickly glanced up and then back down to his hands, continuing once he realised they weren’t going to reply. “Anyway, are you ready to order?” he asked.

Fitz’s mind went blank, he stared at the menu he had somehow picked up without noticing in this ridiculous situation. “Uhhh…”

“Two coffees, please.” Jemma cut in to save him.

Hunter nodded and scribbled the order down, “Yep, I’ll- um- that’ll just be a few minutes.”

Fitz finally snapped out of his daze, “Thanks.” He managed.

Once Hunter had moved out of earshot the looked up at each other and immediately burst out laughing. “What…” Jemma started but couldn’t finish as another wave of hysterics hit her.

Fitz held his hand in mid air, as if he had something to say, but just ended up waving it about, making Jemma laugh even more. It took them longer than they’d be proud to admit to recover.

Fitz was the first to gain back the ability to say a sentence, “How fast can you drink a cup of coffee? Because I don’t know how long I’ve got before I start laughing again.” He said breathlessly.

“Pretty fast, but I feel like we should at least sound like we’re talking about school matters.”

Fitz bit his lip to hold in his laughter, “I think that cover was blown before you even came up with it.” Jemma started giggling again but Fitz hit her arm lightly to stop her, “Shhh, he’s coming back!”

Jemma watched at Hunter placed two mugs down on the table, “So, what about the periodic table?” She asked Fitz, much to his amusement.

Fitz nodded comically, “Yes, it has always been my favourite table… very important to uh-“ He swallowed, then brought his hand up to his forehead, “to make sure that ones covered, don’t wanna be getting caught out there.” His shoulders started to bounce up and down.

Hunter quickly scuttled away to hide behind the counter, leaving the two of them to recover once again.

Jemma stared at Fitz, “Your favourite table?”

Fitz smirked, “Ok, I think I did better than you” he changed his posture and put on a high pitched, exaggerated English voice, “’So Fitz, what about the periodic table?’” he imitated.

“I do not sound like that!” Jemma all but yelled at him, smacking him on the arm before laughing again. Fitz mouthed an apology to her from across the table. “So…” Jemma continued, “we should probably leave before we make any more of a fool of ourselves.”

Fitz nodded, “Definitely.” He said, pulling his wallet out to leave some money on the table (including a generous tip to Hunter for managing to keep a straight face), and waving away Jemma’s offer to cover the bill. “Um, so my place isn’t far from here.”

Jemma’s eyebrows shot up.

Fitz waved his hands in the air between them, “Oh no, no I didn’t mean that like in _that_ way.”

Jemma smiled at him, “Really, because I was hoping you did.”

Fitz just stared back at her, completely unable to give any kind of verbal response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone, got a bit caught up in essay writing over the last few weeks but I should be able to post another chapter later this week. Thank you to everyone who's left kudos or comments! :)


	17. Chapter 17

“Jemma! Fancy seeing you here.” Fitz reacted with an over-exaggerated look of surprise on his face as Jemma walked into her own classroom first thing in the morning.

“Well, it is rare that I visit my own classroom. Where I have worked for a considerable amount of time.” She replied, smiling at Fitz as he produced a cinnamon roll from behind his back. “Thank you, Fitz.”

“You’re very welcome, Jemma.” He smiled back at her. He shifted out of her way to let her get to her computer to log in, then returned to leaning on the desk, facing her. “So… how set are you on the whole ‘strictly professional at work’ thing?” Jemma raised her eyebrows at him, but let him continue. “Say in a situation such as now, when we are alone…”

She sighed, “Fitz, you know that both teachers and students like to appear at the worst possible moments. We can’t risk getting caught before we’ve made this-” she gestured between them “-official with the school.”

Fit nodded, frowning a little in disappointment. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to push-“

“Push?" She let out a laugh. "Trust me Fitz, I don’t like going from the weekend we just had to ‘strictly professional’ either. You’re not the only one with… urges.”

Fitz smirked down at her. “Urges?”

“That probably wasn’t my best choice of wording, but you understand my point.”

Fitz ran his tongue across his bottom lip, and started walking backwards out of the room, the smirk still on his face. “I suppose I should’ve seen this coming. It’s not your fault that I’m this irresistible.” His smirk turned into a full on grin.

“Fitz!” Jemma shouted after him, laughing at his sudden boost of self-confidence.

She heard her phone go off in her bag and dug it out only to read a text from Fitz, who apparently was very quick at typing.

_“Do try to keep it in your pants, Dr Simmons. I’m trying to stay professional over here. ;) x”_


	18. Chapter 18

Fitz had already set up five different stations in the back of his classroom, put the appropriate instruction sheets on each desk, and started writing reports for his first year classes (which in his view was pointless, he barely even knew most of their names so had been guessing based on their homework marks) when the first few members of his higher physics class finally filtered in.

“Anyone feel like telling me where you’ve all been? The bell went ages ago.” Fitz asked to those who had turned up. “Or where the rest of the class is?”

“We had a surprise visit from the police about the dangers of underage drinking.” Piper said from her seat on the left.

Fitz rolled his eyes, typical that they wouldn’t let the other staff know. “Jesus, bet that was fun.” He sighed as the last few pupils wandered in, taking their sweet time to sit down. Among them was Hunter, who was putting a lot of effort into avoiding eye contact with Fitz. “Right. As you can see there are five different experiments set up, however you will only be doing the one that’s instructions are in front of you. I know who’s got what so no switching, and remember to take notes because you will need to write a short report on this for next week. If you need help, then ask. But most of it is pretty self explanatory. Off you go.” He announced, waving them off towards the back of the room to do their work.

Fitz caught Hunter by the arm before he made it up the back, “Can I have a word?”

Hunter nodded and Fitz led him into the corridor.

“So uh… how’s work?” Fitz started, not wanting to explicitly bring anything up in case Hunter hadn’t actually caught on.

Hunter stared down at his shoes, which were shuffling around awkwardly. “Sir, I promise I haven’t said anything.”

Fitz nodded, relaxing slightly. “I appreciate it.”

Hunter nodded, continuing. “I won’t say anything, either. I figured you don’t want people gossiping any more than they already do. And I can understand that, my own… relationship status… sees a lot of speculation from people.”

Fitz frowned. “More than they already do?”

“Yeah, most of the pupils, and even the teachers, talk about you and Dr Simmons. Especially the teachers to be honest.”

Fitz was about to press for more information on the apparent gossiping, but was interrupted.

“Fitz, what are doing?”

Fitz held his breath, this wasn’t what he was hoping to be caught doing. “Dr Simmons, I was just- um…”

“You were just being ridiculously unprofessional and discussing personal matters with a pupil?” She finished for him.

“Actually Miss-“ Hunter cut in, “I asked to talk to Dr Fitz about the other day. To let him know that I haven’t -and won’t- say anything to anyone.”

Fitz breathed out, Hunter was getting one hell of a shining report this year.

“You were?” She asked.

Hunter nodded innocently.

Jemma sighed, and told him to go back to class before turning to Fitz.

“I’m sorry, Jemma. I know I shouldn’t have done that but I needed to check, I didn’t want people finding out since you don’t want them to.” He whispered.

Jemma dropped her shoulders, “I understand, and it’s not that I don’t want people to know. I just don’t think it would be wise considering the… newness of the situation.”

Fitz smiled at her, then spoke after a pause for thought. “What are you doing out here anyway? Don’t you have a class?”

She nodded, “Yes, but I need a new whiteboard pen.” She explained.

Fitz frowned, “But they’re in the supply cupboard, which is in the opposite direction to where you were heading.”

“It may have been an excuse to visit you.” She admitted, embarrassed at herself.

Fitz laughed, “And I’m the unprofessional one here.” He joked, opening the door for her to follow him in and complete the façade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I haven't forgotten about this, I've just been really busy with uni work recently.  
> Also, over 100 kudos! Thank you to everyone for reading, commenting and kudos-ing this fic (especially since my uploading is inconsistent at best)
> 
> I can't promise when the next chapter will go up but I'll try my best not to leave it so long again :)


	19. Chapter 19

Jemma was kneeling down in the back of the science supply cupboard trying to figure out where the hell she had hidden the last pack of jotters from the other teachers when the door opened and closed, and a certain new teacher whom she was fairly fond of walked in. He watched him for as he looked through the shelves in front of him, muttering the list of items he was searching for. That was when she realised that Fitz had absolutely no idea she was in there too. A mischievous grin formed on her face. She watched as he moved closer to her, still staring at the shelves, but now with a few jotters (the ones she had been looking for, she noted) and a pack of whiteboard markers in his arms. She reached out her hand slowly, to ensure that he didn’t spot her movement from the corner of his eyes. He took a final small side step towards her and she grabbed his ankle tightly.

He Jumped away in response, screaming in a ridiculously high pitched tone. Jemma however, was bent over double laughing on the floor.

“For Christ’s sake.” He said, exasperated by the sudden childishness of his… girlfriend? He shook his head, he’d discuss that with her at a later date, it’d only been a few days. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry.” She had managed to get her laughing under control now and stood up, dusting her knees off. “Couldn’t resist.”

Fitz took her hand to help her stand, and Jemma didn’t mention it when he didn’t let it go. “What are you doing hiding in the depths of a supply cupboard anyway?” He asked, running his thumb over the back of her hand.

“I _was_ searching for the last pack of jotters which I hid last week…” She trailed off, looking at the pack he held in his other hand.

“Ah.” He said, following her line of sight. “Splitsies?” He offered, giving her what he hoped was a cute smile.

Jemma thought for a moment. “Or…” She said, taking both items from his other hand and putting them aside, then taking his hand in hers. “I could trade you for something… else.” She whispered, smirking as Fitz’s eyebrows shot up as their lips touched. She deepened the kiss as he let go of her hands, wrapping on arm around her waist to pull her closer and the other went up to play with her hair. Jemma had one hand gripping the collar of his shirt, and the other placed on his jawline, fingers tickling his light stubble. They remained like this until just over five minutes later, when Jemma felt her back push into the shelves behind her, and almost started unbuttoning Fitz’s shirt. She pulled back slightly and Fitz let her, but he did make a very sad noise as there was suddenly some (even if it was only a few centimetres) distance between them.

“Fitz. We shouldn’t be doing this.” She whispered, breathing deeply to recover.

“Right.” He immediately let go of her and started straightening out his collar. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to- I swear I know keeping this a secret is important to you, I’m just not doing a very good job of proving it today.”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “You’re not the issue here Fitz, I’m the one who started it.”

“I didn’t exactly stop you though.” He reminded her.

She smiled at him, wanting to kiss him again but knowing where that would end up again. “And I don’t _want_ to keep us a secret. Honestly, I’d quite like to tell everyone I’ve seen today but… it’s the right thing to do. For now.”

Fitz nodded.

“In fact,” Jemma said, “I’m meeting up with some friends tonight if you’d like to join me? I’d like to introduce them to you.”

He nodded again, “Sounds good.” He paused to gain some courage. “And how would you be introducing me?” he asked.

“I was planning on going with ‘Hi everyone, this is my new boyfriend Fitz’, but if you really want I can change that to ‘Hi everyone, this is the guy I’ve been having sex with’ if you prefer?” She joked.

“Boyfriend sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I've kinda lost motivation with this fic so I'm gonna end it here for now. I might write some more small parts for this AU at some point so if I do I'll add it as a series.  
> Thank you to everyone who left kudos or comments along the way :)


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